Across Colombia, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United States, cocaine and synthetic opioids are reshaping communities in very different ways. This investigation follows coca production, international trafficking, youth recruitment, gang violence, drug markets, fentanyl, and xylazine while examining how organized crime and addiction intersect. Through law enforcement, community organizations, people with lived experience, and public health workers, the episode connects the global cocaine trade with European gang networks and the overdose crisis in North America, as well as prevention, treatment, and harm-reduction efforts.
Across Pakistan, Thailand, Canada, and Australia, methamphetamine production, trafficking, addiction, and recovery take very different forms. This investigation follows police raids, rehabilitation programs, border patrols, drug-destruction operations, clandestine laboratories, and wastewater monitoring while tracing the networks that move synthetic drugs across borders. It also examines the role of Myanmar's expanding meth trade, the challenges facing people seeking treatment, and the impact of high-potency drugs on communities. Through law enforcement, experts, treatment workers, and people affected by addiction, the episode reveals the global reach of synthetic drugs.
Rising cocaine production and increasingly pure cocaine are affecting communities thousands of kilometres from where the drug originates. This investigation follows the cocaine trade from Colombia to Canada, documenting law enforcement efforts to intercept international shipments before travelling to Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation in Labrador, where residents are confronting addiction and drug-related deaths. Through interviews with police, community members, people in recovery, and treatment workers, the report connects organized crime and international drug trafficking with the public health consequences experienced by one remote First Nations community.
As prescription drug misuse grew across Tennessee, communities began confronting doctor shopping, medication diversion, overdose, and increasing access to controlled substances. This documentary examines an early response to what would later become a nationwide opioid crisis, bringing together perspectives from law enforcement, healthcare professionals, pharmacists, coalition leaders, and people directly affected. It explores prescription monitoring, youth prevention, community partnerships, and the challenges of distinguishing legitimate pain treatment from problematic drug use while capturing the warning signs of a rapidly developing public health crisis.
Thailand's 2003 war on drugs unleashed a violent crackdown on suspected drug users and dealers as authorities faced intense pressure to meet government targets. This investigation follows police, local officials, journalists, and community members as blacklists, arrests, and killings spread across the country. While the government blamed much of the violence on drug traffickers silencing informants, critics raised concerns about extrajudicial killings and innocent people being caught in the campaign. The film examines the fear, stigma, and human cost of an enforcement strategy intended to suppress Thailand's growing yaba crisis.
TOPICS: Crime, Drug Trafficking, Law Enforcement, Methamphetamine, Stigma, Stimulants, Thailand, Yaba
Germany has become an important destination in Europe's growing cocaine market, with international trafficking networks using ports and emerging smuggling routes to move enormous quantities of the drug across borders. From a record-breaking 16-ton seizure at the Port of Hamburg to new routes through Kenya, this documentary follows cocaine's journey from South America to dealers and consumers in Europe. Through law enforcement, experts, and personal stories, it explores the profits, violence, enforcement challenges, and economic conditions driving an increasingly globalized cocaine trade.
The Netherlands has become a major hub in Europe's cocaine trade, with criminal networks using ports such as Rotterdam and Antwerp to move enormous quantities of drugs into the continent. This documentary investigates the groups commonly associated with the Mocro Mafia and the violence, corruption, and intimidation surrounding the lucrative cocaine trade. Through investigators, journalists, and law enforcement officials, it examines port security, drug seizures, organized crime, and the Marengo trial involving Ridouan Taghi, revealing how trafficking networks have extended their influence deep into Dutch society.
TOPICS: Cocaine, Crime, Drug Trafficking, Law Enforcement, Netherlands
In 2001, Portugal transformed its approach to drugs by decriminalizing possession of small amounts for personal use and shifting its focus toward health, treatment, and harm reduction. Two decades later, SBS Dateline travels to Lisbon to examine how the policy works in practice and what impact it has had on addiction, overdose deaths, and people who use drugs. Through policymakers, frontline workers, and personal stories, the investigation explores Portugal's progress, the problems that remain, and whether countries such as Australia could learn from its approach to drug policy.
Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Protection track major drug smuggling operations entering the United States in this episode of To Catch a Smuggler. Investigators follow methamphetamine shipments through Atlanta and uncover 560 kilograms of liquid meth concealed inside paint buckets, while officers intercept large quantities of MDMA hidden in international parcels. Along the way, agents explain how trafficking organizations move drugs across borders, recruit lower-level couriers, conceal narcotics in everyday shipments, and build investigations designed to identify higher-ranking members of criminal networks.
TOPICS: Crime, Drug Trafficking, Ecstasy / MDMA, Law Enforcement, Methamphetamine, Stimulants, USA
Vancouver police officers turn their cameras toward the Downtown Eastside, documenting the lives of people experiencing addiction, homelessness, poverty, and severe social marginalization. Through repeated encounters and personal stories, the film follows individuals living on the streets while showing how officers’ attitudes begin to shift as they learn more about the people behind the addiction. Originally created in part as a drug-awareness project for youth, the documentary offers a stark look at substance use, stigma, survival, and the human consequences of life in one of Vancouver’s most vulnerable communities.
TOPICS: Canada, Homelessness, Law Enforcement, Personal Stories, Poverty, Public Health
